Finders Keepers
by boring the goose
Summary: James Sirius Potter happens upon a certain artifact from his father's youth.


**Finders Keepers**

_Description: James Sirius Potter happens upon a certain artifact from his father's youth._

_Disclaimer: In my salute to J.K. Rowling I do not pretend to be her._

James Potter was a simple teenager. He laughed, joked, and spent his time pranking others. He didn't waste time worrying about the little things like his younger siblings did. In fact, James considered his lack of endless foresight as his most admirable trait. So when the fourteen year old James found himself crammed under his father's desk one hot summer day, he took the position in stride, not like the two pansies trapped under there with him.

"We are in _so_ much trouble," Albus whispered dramatically. "We're never supposed to come into Dad's study. Ever."

James glanced at his brother, rolling his eyes. "Stop being such a prat. If Dad didn't want us in here, he would have locked the door."

"But he _did_ lock the door!" Lily squeaked. She was sitting on the opposite side of Albus, her high-pitched elven year old voice completely different from Al's pubescent growls.

James Potter sometimes thought he was an only child, and Albus and Lily were simply adopted. There was no other explanation for their lack of enthusiasm regarding this mission. "Dad just used a simple key, though," James explained patiently. "No charms to make the door impenetrable, no spell to detect intruders. He might as well have left a sign of saying 'come right in'."

"I don't think he was accounting for your skill with a bobby pin," Albus shot back.

Smirking, James said, "Well that's his loss, isn't it? Now come on—Mum's got to be downstairs again by now."

Slowly and carefully, the three children extracted themselves from under the desk. The tallest, James, had rusty brown hair and brown eyes framed by square-rimmed glasses. He came out first, his wand clutched tightly in his hand, though he couldn't yet use magic outside of school. Behind him came Lily, petite with fiery red hair, her brown eyes still uncertain about the task at hand. Last came Al, the spitting image of the great Harry Potter who presided in this office, sans the glasses. And just like Harry would be, Albus Severus Potter was absolutely infuriated by the invasion of privacy.

Ignoring his brother, James began rifling through the papers that smothered his father's desk. None of it was of interest, mostly paperwork he'd brought home over the past week or so. James passed over it without a second glance. Not at all sure what he was looking for, James moved toward the bookshelf on the back wall. After a moment's hesitation, Lily followed him.

"Daddy would be so mad if he found out," Lily said, pulling a random book from the shelf.

James smiled, appreciating his sister for the rule-breaking Gryffindor she was bound to become. He was not so impressed by his brother, who was standing defiantly near the door, his hand hovering above the handle. "I don't know what you're playing at, James, but I'm not going to be part of it."

James looked at his brother with a mix of amusement and anxiety. If Al told their mother they were in here, she would literally _kill them_. He had to get his brother on his side.

"Come on, Al," James said, feigning nonchalance as he turned from the bookshelf. "Where's your Gryffindor spirit?"

"At school, where it belongs," Albus replied sharply. "Honestly James, Dad doesn't want us in here. Let's just get out of here before Mum comes back up and we get caught."

James made his way over to the closet wedged in the back corner of the room. Lily stayed at the bookshelf, running her hands over the spines. She was always weird like that. Even Aunt Hermione wasn't that crazy about books.

"Al," James said seriously, "we all know you're Dad's favorite. However, you cannot claim the moral high ground at this point. You came with us when we broke in, you lied to Mum just like me and Lily. You'll get in just as much trouble as we will, so you might as well make the whole process quicker so we won't get caught."

At first, Albus didn't respond, standing in exactly the same spot as he had for the past five minutes. But then, slowly but surely, he made his way over to the center of the room and began tugging at desk drawers.

"Atta boy!" James called, then returned to his search.

Over the next half hour, the three Potter children searched high and low for anything even mildly interesting in their father's office. Lily, who continued to dedicate her time to the bookshelf, found a number of volumes one would not expect to see in an Auror's personal library: _Quidditch Through the Ages_, a worn _Twelve Fail Safe Ways to Charm Witches_, and a copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _with notes scribbled in the margins. She took particular interest in a bright orange edition titled_ Flying with the Cannons_, as the Potter family had always supported the Holyhead Harpies. James found nothing in his father's closet, save for a massive bag of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes merchandise. To one who didn't know Harry this might be surprising, maybe even alarming, but James himself had compiled a fair amount of Nosebleed Nougat over the years, borrowed from his father's secret stash. The stock compiled here was nothing compared to the one kept under the trap door in the back of the pantry. In the end, it was Albus that found the only thing worthwhile.

"James," he said quietly. "I need your help."

The air in the room stood still, and both Lily and James rushed to meet their apparently converted brother. Albus _never_ asked for help, especially in trouble-making situations.

"Yes?" James breathed.

Albus tugged on the lower left hand drawer on the desk. Instead of opening, it remained firmly shut. "It's locked."

James nodded, already understanding. Drawing his weapon of choice, a bobby pin, he jimmied the lock. It was much harder to navigate than the lock on the door, but within a minute the lock clicked resoundingly.

All three Potter children sucked in a breath as James tugged at the door to the drawer. Steeling his grip on his wand, the drawer slid open to reveal...

A blank pamphlet of parchment.

"Are you kidding me?" Lily squeaked. "All the anticipation for _this_?"

James rolled his eyes. "Only Dad can keep a bag of fireworks in his closet and feel the need to hide away a bit of spare parchment."

Albus, caught up in the moment, scoffed at his siblings' lack of vision. "Obviously Dad keeps it here for a reason. It's probably something really dark he got on one of his missions." Al peered at it intensely, as if the white would give birth to words if only he stared hard enough.

"You look ridiculous, Al," James said bluntly. "Just give it to me, I'll be able to work it out."

Albus clutched the ancient parchment tighter. "No. I found it, I get first dibs at figuring it out."

"Yeah, well I opened the door," James replied. "You wouldn't even have it without me."

"I found it."

"I got to it."

"I'm smarter."

"I'm older."

"Well—"

"Merlin, Albus, just give it to James!" Lily cried. "This whole expedition was his idea in the first place."

Sulking from being told off by his younger sister, Al shoved the parchment at James. As it rested in his hands, James realized that he too was at a loss of what to do. He didn't have the proper potions for reversing invisible ink, and he felt awkward writing on it to see what happened. What if the ink didn't go away?

"See, he doesn't have a clue either!" Albus shouted.

"I would if you gave me a few seconds to think!" James shot back. Twisting his wand in his fingers, the teenager wondered what he might do if he _were_ allowed to use magic. Tapping his wand on the parchment, he mumbled thoughtlessly, "James Potter wants to know how to work this thing."

Instantly the parchment changed. What was once blank now filled itself with thin, slanted writing. Lily and Albus gasped when they saw the transformation. Triumphantly, James began to read the words aloud.

"Mr. Moony greets James Potter cordially, though his inability to work this map is quite astounding."

"Map?" Lily asked incredulously. "How so?"

James shrugged and continued reading. "Mr. Wormtail sends his apologies to James Potter, as he has most certainly suffered a terrible accident for his brain to be this altered."

Albus smirked, Lily giggled, and James, hesitantly, read on.

"Mr. Padfoot would like to tell Mr. James Potter that he is a big-headed git who should clean out his sock drawer more often. He would also venture to guess that the fumes from the drawer are what's killing the few brain cells Mr. Potter does possess."

By this point Al was in tears he was laughing so hard. "He nailed you right on the head James!" Albus crowed, not a care in the world for his mother's sensitive hearing. "What's it like to be hammered by a piece of parchment?"

"We should definitely keep this one!" Lily squawked. "For entertainment value, if nothing else."

His discovery turned sour, James didn't read the last statement aloud. While his younger siblings cackled like hyenas at his expense, James scanned the last few lines.

_Mr. Prongs disagrees with his unworthy mates and would like to tell the handsome and charming James Potter that he may work this map by tapping the parchment and saying..._

Suddenly, the study door slammed open behind them. Al and Lily stopped laughing immediately, their expressions going from amused to horrified. Slowly, James turned to face the door, his heart sinking slowly to his feet. Framed neatly in the now open door-frame, Ginevra Potter had never looked more furious.

"What are you doing in here?" she hissed, her voice dangerously low. "You told me that you went to the Burrow for the day."

James looked at his accomplices. Albus, who hadn't gotten so much as one detention in his two years at Hogwarts, looked as pale as a ghost. Lily was blushing furiously, trying to set down the _Cannons_ book without drawing attention to it. Their every feature spelled guilt, and James couldn't help but think, briefly, that they were the worst people to have with him in this situation. But even though the pair was obviously in deep trouble, it was their older brother that endured the initial attack.

"James Sirius Potter," his mother said in a voice so low it was almost a growl. "What on earth are you doing?"

James had yet to successfully lie to his mother, but he tried his luck anyway. "Dad had a book he said he wanted to show us." Groping around the table, he found _Flying with the Cannons_ and brandished it for his mother. "He was going to give it to us after work, but I thought he wouldn't mind if we got it now."

Ginny looked down at her children, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You broke into your father's office at four in the afternoon for a _book_?"

James nodded fervently. In the corner of his eye, he saw Albus do the same. "We wanted to know why Uncle Ron was so obsessed with the Cannons, when the Harpies is obviously the better Quidditch team. Dad thought that this," Al gestured towards the book, "would change our perspective a bit."

Ginny had to stop herself from grinning, and James felt a glimmer of hope. Al was great at buttering their parents up. All they had to do was keep the lie going long enough that their Mum would get bored and give them the default two weeks grounding. It shouldn't be that hard—with Albus's say so, their story had much more power behind it, though it's credibility was still almost nonexistent.

Then Ginny turned to Lily and all hope was shot.

"Lily?" Ginny asked gently in her soothing, motherly voice. "Are your brother's telling the truth?"

"Well...erm..." Lily looked from her mother, to her brothers, then back again. Lily never lied. She was as bold and defiant as the rest of the Potters, but when it came to this sort of thing she was one hundred percent honest. Desperately James hoped for a miracle, that Lily would have suddenly come into her trouble-making gene in the hour or so they had been up there. The girl looked much more conflicted than she usually did before telling on her brothers, which could only be a good sign.

"Well, not exactly. You see we did come in here for this..." she looked around, "book, but then we couldn't find it right away, so we looked through Dad's office a bit, just to save him the trouble, you know, and Albus found this parchment..."

There was more after that, but James didn't listen. The fatal blows had already been dealt. Lily had admitted to searching their Dad's office, and they were so dead on so many levels that James considered begging for forgiveness right then and there. Though Lily was still talking, and though she had mentioned Al's name in association with the parchment, Ginny's eyes were locked on James.

"Parchment, James?" she said in her most dangerous tone. "Is that true?"

James sighed. "Well yes, Albus happened to come across some _prank parchment_, but it's not like we got into anything important. I mean, we weren't disrupting ministry secrets or anything."

Ginny nodded and, to James's horror, picked up the parchment that had just been mocking him. Carefully, she read through the statements of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. "But James, if Albus found this, why is _your name_ written all over it?"

"Well..."

Ginny, apparently, was tired of hearing half-baked lies. James really couldn't blame her. "Albus, Lily, out. I'll deal with you later." They scurried out of the room, the door swinging shut behind them with a resounding thud. James winced.

"Mum, I know what this looks like..."

"Why, James?" Ginny said. "Why do you continue to do this? Can't you see this isn't some fun adventure for you—this is an invasion of privacy. Your _father's_ privacy."

"Yes, Mum," James mumbled, his eyes focused intensely on the tips of his trainers.

"Do you know what kind of stuff Dad has had to put up with from the media over the years? Merlin, during his fifth year, it seemed every other article in the paper was about him being crazy. After the war, he literally had people _stalking him—_fans and former death eaters alike. He began using his invisibility cloak to get to Auror training. We could hardly go on dates in public without people screaming his name. And now, years later, when it seems like everything has settled down, his own _son_ breaks into his office and goes pawing around through his things. How do you think he'd feel about that?"

"Bad."

"No, James," Ginny said, her tone softening somewhat. "He'd feel betrayed, because he loves you more than anything in the world. You and Al and Lily. He thinks your pranks are hilarious, and truly believes you'll grow up to be a brave, strong, wizard of _character_." The emphasis made James's stomach twist uncomfortably. He typically wasn't one for guilt trips, but his mother was really laying it on thick. "But how can you be a wizard of character if you waste your time going through other people's things, just for kicks?"

"I can't," the boy mumbled.

"Damn straight you can't. Now here is what we're going to do. You are going to tell me the _real_ reason why you're in your father's office, and I will punish you accordingly."

James looked up at her. "What about Albus and Lily?"

"Two weeks grounding and the betrayal speech, depending on what you tell me now."

James sighed. He supposed it was fair, considering it was their first offense. Still, he couldn't help but think it was a tad discriminatory that they got off so easily. They were as curious as he was, after all.

He took a deep breath. "We were looking for stuff about our grandparents. Our Potter grandparents, that is."

Ginny blinked, obviously surprised with his answer. James continued.

"Every one else—Fred, Molly, Dominique, Rose and Hugo—they know both sets of grandparents. And while the stories Dad tells are nice, we wanted something more concrete." The words were tumbling out now, a sense of relief coming over James as he finally told the truth. "We found some stuff in the attic, and a little more in your room, but nothing really stood out, you know? I mean, these people are the reason Dad's alive, the reason he has that scar on his forehead, right? We really wanted to know _everything_." James looked up at her, gauging his mother's reaction. For the first time in living history, Ginevra Potter was speechless. Gaining confidence, he continued. "So we broke into Dad's office. Trust me when I say that it seemed like a good idea at the time. But we couldn't find anything...until Al found the map. Is it a map? Anyway...I messed with the map...it insulted me...and here we are."

Ginny closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. This was too much. While James had once again broken the rules, his motives were almost...sweet. He was growing up. And while every mothering bone in her body was screaming for her to ground him for a month, she just couldn't do it.

"Go to your room."

"Mum—"

Ginny Potter's eyes flashed. "Go to your room, unless you want me to change my mind and tell your father about this. You will not tell anyone about this. You will not be grounded. And Merlin help me, if I _ever_ catch you in here without your father's permission again, you will be prepping slugs for his potion set for the rest of the summer."

James sighed. "Yes, Mum." His shoulders slumped forward, utterly dejected as he left the office. Ginny sighed, putting the Marauder's Map back in the drawer from whence it came. It was for exactly this reason that Harry had chosen to keep the map from his children, especially James. It was also for this reason that she chose not to lock the drawer after she slid it closed, so that when James returned she wouldn't have the time to catch him in the act.

_Author's Note: I wrote this entire thing, save the last paragraph, years ago. Upon rediscovering it, I decided it might be worthwhile to share it. Please tell me if you agree._


End file.
